


The Cabin In The Woods

by Plonq



Series: Bolt [6]
Category: Bolt (2008)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humor, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28994331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plonq/pseuds/Plonq
Summary: Penny's mom inherits a cabin from somebody who is ostensibly a relative. Then nothing happens. This is one of those character-driven stories where there's lots of talking and hurt and comfort and stuff.Edit:One of my beta readers has told me that my summary might not draw in a reader. Try this:Imagine if the movie "Bolt" had been the product of some experimental mid-century Swedish director, with lots of essentially static, stark black and white moments with a split-screen of two actors' faces against a Stygian background, one facing right and the other facing the viewer. Their pallid visages betray no emotion as they stoically talk over each other, voicing their feelings of emptiness and ennui in the face of a meaningless existence. They end by saying, "I am alone, even when we are together" in unison.Now imagine if this story is nothing like that, other than lots of dialogue and character interaction. And a hamster and a dog and a cat.
Series: Bolt [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802179
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6





	The Cabin In The Woods

"Guys! Guys! Guys!"

Bolt burst into the room with such gusto that the door slammed into its rubber stop with alarming force. It rebounded with enough momentum that it might have bloodied his muzzle if he hadn't extended his right paw and expertly blocked it.

Before the dog's dramatic entry, Mittens had been lazing on the edge of the couch watching Rhino play solitaire with dollhouse-scale cards and offering him occasional nibbles of wisdom like, "Yo, just put the three of hearts on the four of spades already. You're killin' me here." The immediate aftermath of the pooch's bold entrance was a yowl of surprise from one of the room's occupants as she launched herself torpedo-like to cling to a point midway up the drapes, while the other slammed the clamshell of his hamster ball shut in a flurry of scattered cards and assumed a defensive kung fu stance.

The shepherd paused in the doorway and glanced back and forth between the hamster and the cat. "Did I startle you?" Without waiting for an answer, he pressed on quickly. "Sorry - I was just too excited to share this news!"

"Are there nuclear missiles incoming and we have forty seconds to get to the basement?" hissed Mittens, though the puffed fur on her nape and tail were starting to settle a bit once the initial shock had passed.

"Are we under siege from ninjas with flaming shurikens?" asked Rhino with a hopeful tinge in his voice.

Bolt shook his head emphatically. "No, and no," he said quickly.

The other two pets gave simultaneous groans of disappointment, though Rhino surreptitiously made a throat-slitting gesture to a pair of masked hamsters - one with dripping shurikens and another with a lighter - who had been peering hopefully in through the window. The two outside rodents gave visible, sad sighs and slid down out of sight.

"Wait, I know," said Rhino, bouncing excitedly in his plastic ball. "Somebody picked up the movie rights for your show, and they want to pull the original actors out of retirement to make a blockbuster!'

"Or, speaking of the series," said Mittens, frowning with annoyance when she gave her right paw an experimental tug, but the lacy drapes held it fast. "You just discovered that it never really ended. Everything from when you fell into the box of packing peanuts until this moment has been scripted and televised, and you've been living in a canine version of 'The Truman Show'."

"No, Rhino," said Bolt with an impatient grumble. "And ... wow, Mittens, that's creepily specific. I don't _think_ I'm living in a scripted fantasy world, but I'll keep an eye open for invasive boom microphones or spotlights falling from the sky."

"Anyway," the dog continued before the others could interject other crack theories, "I was just out in the kitchen, begging for a mid-afternoon snack while Penny cut up some bologna for one of those sandwiches that her mom keeps yelling at her not to eat between meals. Her mom always buys the rounds, but Penny hates when the meat hangs off the edge of the bread, so she trims them into a square, and then she usually crosses the trimmings over the top of the bologna in an X, but if I beg juuuust right..."

"Wait," said Rhino. The hamster threw back the top of his exercise ball again and held up his right claw. "No way! Did you beg enough that she just tossed you a whole slice? High-five, my good dog!"

"She _did_ ," barked the shepherd enthusiastically. He frowned and shook his head. "But that's not the good news I was talking about."

"Are you sure?" Mittens had freed one of her forepaws from the frilly curtains and waved it vaguely in Bolt's direction. "I mean, I've seen you get way more excited than this over less - like that dust bunny you lost your head over the other day when it rolled across the floor." The other two grew silent and watched for a few moments while the feline worked to disentangle herself from the drapes.

"If you don't mind me asking," said the hamster, "how are you clinging to those drapes?"

"Yeah," agreed Bolt with an emphatic nod. "I thought you were declawed."

"I had to learn a few survival tricks when I lived on the streets," said the cat, grunting as she wiggled one of her back paws free of the loose weave. "Startle a girl bad enough and she’ll find a way." She grimaced and freed another paw. "You don't want to know what I almost left behind on the cushion when you came busting in here like that." Eventually, the feline managed to liberate herself from the curtains and resumed her perch on the edge of the couch.

"You said you had some news, big guy..." prompted Rhino. The hamster had hopped out of his plastic ball and was gathering up the playing cards that had flown hither and yon.

"Right," said Bolt with a gleeful yip. "While we were sneaking illicit sandwich meat, Penny's mom came barging in from outside, waving a letter that just came today. We figured it must have been important because she completely missed me almost choking on my slice of bologna, or Penny quickly stuffing her ill-gotten sandwich under her shirt."

"It would have to be something big to make Penny's mom not notice food," said Mittens and Rhino almost in unison.

"I know, right?" said the pooch nodding again. "It turns out that her mom's aunt's cousin is going to give us the cabin! She was going to leave it in her will, but she's decided that she's getting too advanced in years to do proper upkeep on it, and she knows how much we enjoyed it there."

"Wait, whose cousin now?" said Mittens.

"Penny's mom's aunt's cousin," said Bolt patiently.

The cat shrugged. "That just sounds kinda convoluted. Couldn't you just call her Penny's second cousin?"

"Well, actually," said Rhino, waggling an extended claw at the cat, "I think you'll find that she's Penny's first cousin, twice removed."

"What? No..." Mittens frowned and began counting off relations on the toes of her right forefoot. "I think you have to go up to the great, great grandparents to find the first common relation, and then..."

"Trust me, sister," said Rhino with an air of humble modesty, "I used to watch a bachelor show out of West Virginia, and the bachelorettes had to constantly go back to the genealogy charts to make sure they weren't trying to marry too far outside of the family."

"Okay, fine, whatever. She's Penny's second cousin twice removed - or something," growled Bolt. Rhino started to object, but he quickly backed down when the dog cast him a withering glance. "The important thing is that she's giving us her mountainside cabin." The dog erupted into a broad, tail-wagging grin. "Penny's mom has hired some folks to clean things up for us, so it should be ready for the week before Christmas. It's a bit of a tradition for the three of us to head up to the cabin the week before Christmas, and I can't tell you guys how excited I am to share it with you!"

Mittens frowned and held up a paw. "How about no..." she began, but Rhino talked over her before she could finish.

"Not to doubt you about it being a tradition," said the rotund little rodent, "but weren't you living out of a movie trailer until right before you met me and Mittens? Wouldn't going on vacation to a remote cabin with her mom kind of blow a hole in the narrative they set up for you?" The feline nodded in agreement.

Bolt blushed slightly under his fur. "You might think that," he said sheepishly. "But I'll be the first to admit that I was a bit ... naïve when I was younger. I had the ultimate in sheltered upbringings." He held a paw to the side of his mouth and did his best impression of Penny's voice in a conspiratorial whisper. "Bolt, we're going on a secret mission. Dad needs us to watch over a star witness for a case he's helping to build. Calico's agents will be looking for her, so remain attentive."

The dog gave a long, mournful sigh before he continued. "Needless to say, I spent the entire week up there on high alert. Penny and her mom tried to get me to relax a bit and play with them in the snow, but I knew that the woods were full of agents just waiting for my guard to drop for a second." He thumped his tail again and grinned. "Now I have a chance for a do-over, and I get to share it with my three best friends in the world! Doesn't that sound great?"

"Yes!" cried Rhino, his eyes wide and glimmering. "This sounds like the fourth, or possibly the third best thing to happen in my life! I've seen so many documentaries about these cabins in the woods, and I've always wanted to visit one. We can frolic in the snow, and roast things on sticks around a bonfire after dark, and hunt down the chainsaw-wielding psycho who always comes out of his hiding place when teens go skinny-dipping in the lake." The hamster wrung his hands with glee. "I'll need to start packing now if I hope to find everything I need for the trip. Where did I leave my crucifix...?"

Mittens stood and stretched before hopping down from her perch. "You guys have a blast up there," she said as she trotted past the hamster and tried to slink around the dog who was blocking the exit.

"Whoa," said Bolt, quickly holding out a paw to block her from passing. "You can come too, Mittens. You're part of the family now, and the invitation is open to everyone."

"Yeah ... no," said the cat in a neutral, disinterested tone. She ducked her head under the dog's extended paw and used the nape of her neck to push it up out of her way. "No offence, Wags, but spending a cold, miserable week in the middle of Deliverance country doesn't sound like my idea of fun. I've done the whole frozen-to-the-bone thing for Christmas enough times to be over it now." She shimmied under the pooch's outstretched leg and gave it a firm swat with the tip of her tail as she passed. "But don't let that stop you guys from making snow angels and whatever else it is you do in that wretched, wet blanket of white misery."

"Speaking of wet blankets..." said Rhino with a wink. "Methinks the lady might be less enthused than you'd hoped."

"Wait," said Bolt quickly, but by the time he turned around, the cat had already disappeared through the door and around the corner. He debated going after her, but Rhino waddled over and rested an upstretched claw on the dog's shoulder.

"It's okay, big guy," said the rodent in a reassuring tone. "She'll come around."

"I dunno," said the dog glumly. "She sounds pretty unreceptive to the idea. I was so excited to be able to share this place with you guys; I didn't expect her to be so down on it."

"Sir," said Rhino, giving the shepherd another placating pat, "you just need to work on your sales pitch."

* * *

Bolt mulled on an effective argument to present to the cat as the day wore on. He couldn’t help feeling a niggle of frustration well up when he saw her going about her day as if the earlier conversation had never happened. He made a couple of aborted moves to plead his case with her, but each time he reined himself in without breaking the increasingly awkward silence between them. It was clear that Mittens seemed to consider the matter closed.

The pooch had voiced his exasperation to Rhino at one point, and the hamster had offered to approach the cat in his stead.

"I've watched enough of Perry Mason's biographical series to know how to formulate a compelling case," he'd said, but Bolt had declined.

* * *

If anyone had asked, the dog would readily admit that the cat's glib refusal of his invitation to the cabin had stung a bit. He'd keenly been looking forward to a chance to bond some more with his friends, and he was convinced that Mittens would enjoy herself up there despite her reservations. When he found the little tuxedo cat alone in the den, lying on her back and juggling a yarn ball, he decided that the time was right to try and sway the lady to his side.

Bolt stepped halfway into the room, pausing at the threshold. "Knock, knock," he said politely. "Do you mind if we talk?"

"Sure thing, Wags," said the cat without missing a toss of the balled twine. "Talk yourself hoarse if it makes you happy, but fair warning that my answer won't change if this is about the cabin."

"Oh come on, Mittens," whined the shepherd as he padded the rest of the way into the room. "I understand that you're not interested in the snow, but the cabin has a big wood stove that puts out all kinds of heat."

The cat caught the ball between her front paws and clutched it to her chest as she lay on her back. She lifted her head to meet the dog's gaze over the ball, peering at him through her splayed hind legs. "Wood stoves go out in the night," she said simply, "and then you're just shivering in a chilly room with a big hunk of cold metal."

It took a moment for Bolt to notice that he was staring up the business end of a cat who was lying in a very un-ladylike pose, and he quickly averted his gaze with a slight flush in his cheeks. "Penny's mom gets up early every morning and lights it again," he said. "I learned all kinds of new words from her as she'd go through several matches before she finally got it lit. And while you wait, you can huddle up under the thick blankets and try to blow frost rings out of your nostrils. It's fun."

Mittens rolled onto her side and yawned. " _Fun_ ," she snorted, kicking the yarn ball into the corner as she rose. "No offence, pooch, but I've heard more compelling sales pitches for a famous bridge in Brooklyn." She dropped the snide tone for a more placating one. "I know you're lookin' forward to this trip, Bolt, but we're gonna have to agree to disagree on our definition of 'fun' in this instance. This might be the first December in years where I have a chance to spend it warm and dry. The house sitter that Penny's mom hires when she goes away knows how to treat a cat right. I'll be fine. You guys enjoy your snow."

Bolt stepped to block the cat's egress when he saw her make a move toward the door. "Mittens," he said quickly in a last-ditch effort, "can’t you just give me this one thing? You don't know how excited I am to share this with my friends, and it won't be the same without you there. I know you'd love the place if you just give it a chance."

"Look, Wags," said the cat in a slightly less appeasing tone, "I can see you're pumped about this thing, but trust me when I say that I'd just be a drag on you guys if you brought me along." She deked around the dog before he could block her again. "I'll be fine here."

"Ugh!" Bolt clapped a paw dramatically to his face and shook his head with a terse growl. "It's just a week out of your life. I don't know why you're being such an incorrigible sourpuss about it. Were you this stubborn with your last family? It's no _wonder_ they left you on the curb when they moved out."

If the dog had seen the stricken look on Mittens's face when he said that, he would have quickly recanted his words, but he gave his zinger a chance to sink in before he pressed on, blithely unaware that the cat had slipped out of the room behind him.

"I'm _kidding_ ," he said with a low chuckle. "I'd love it if you came, but I'm not going to force you to join us if you _genuinely_ don't want to..." Bolt stopped when he looked back and realized that he was talking to an empty room. "Hmph," he exclaimed, scrunching up the side of his muzzle into a frown. "That was rude."

* * *

Bolt did not notice the cat's absence the next morning until Penny scratched his ears while he was wolfing down his breakfast.

"Hey, Bolt," she said when she'd caught his attention, "where's your cat friend? She's usually here for breakfast."

The dog looked over toward the cat's dish, spattering a bit of the dog food carnage that coated his muzzle in a small arc as he turned. Just as his master has said, Mittens was conspicuous by her absence. "Mrph," he said, with a nescient shrug and a quick glance up at the girl. He was about to give it a second thought when his attention was called back to his own, half-filled dish.

"Kitty!" called Penny, giving the cat food box a vigorous shake. "Come and get your breakfast! It's your favourite, the..." the girl paused and read the label. "It's the dry, chicken-flavoured kibbles!" She shook the box again.

"I'm sure the cat will be along in good time," said Penny's mom, who was scarfing down the last of her breakfast bagel. The large woman licked the residue of the butter and cream cheese off her fingers before picking at a few errant crumbs that had found temporary refuge on her ample bosom. "She knows where to find the food."

"It's just weird, you know," said Penny with a frown of concern. "The cat is usually the first one in here for feeding, and she's on it like a little feline vacuum as soon as I put it down. " She rattled the box again like a kibble maraca. "Kitty!"

"She might be locked in the laundry room, dear," said her mom. Her eyes were not on her daughter as she spoke, though. The buxom woman was engaged in a staring contest with the final bagel in a battle of wills that she was inexorably losing. She sighed and half-rose from her chair to lean across the table for it. "Yesterday was laundry day, and you know how she likes to sleep on the dryer," said Penny's mom as she twisted the pre-sliced bagel apart and slathered on an unseemly mound of "lite" cream cheese. "I'll make sure the door is open for her before we leave." She pointed at Penny with the cheese-slathered knife for emphasis, "And speaking of leaving, young lady, you head right on up to your room and get your shoes and books. We don't want another 'tardy' on your record at school."

By the time the humans left, Bolt was just finishing up his breakfast. He had cleaned out the bowl and pushed it in a large semi-circle around the kitchen, licking up every mote and fleck of food that might have tried to escape. He glanced at Mittens's untouched food dish again and gave his head a cock of mixed confusion and worry.

Penny was right - the cat was usually the first one down for breakfast. By the time Bolt was eating, she'd usually had her fill and would come over to visit with him.

_"Hiya Wags, what's on the menu this morning? Oooh - it's the brown, mushy stuff again. No, no, no, don't bother tryin' to talk on my account; that would require you to stop and breathe. Also, you got a bit on your forehead. Scratch that pooch, you got a **lot** on your forehead now..."_

The canine padded out of the kitchen with a little knot of concern in his stomach. Bolt was pretty sure that it was concern and not dog food because the latter tended to slosh about a bit when he swallowed too much air with his food. He poked his muzzle into the laundry room and Penny's bedroom before he made his way to the family room. As expected, he found Rhino lounging back in his plastic clamshell, watching TV.

"Hey Rhino, have you seen Mitt..." began the mutt, but the hamster held up one claw to his chubby muzzle and pointed to the television with the other.

"Shhh! Not an ad," he said shortly.

Bolt planted himself beside the hamster's ball and watched through to the end of the scene. Two humans were yelling at each other in the show, and the female threw pillows at the male before storming out of the room. She slammed the door like Penny did when her mom temporarily took away her Nintendo DS for failing a maths test.

"ARE YOU TIRED OF THE SAME OLD HEMORRHOIDS?" blared the TV before Rhino could mash the mute button on the remote.

"Okay, _that's_ an ad," said the hamster. He cocked a brow at the dog. "So what's this you were saying about Mittens?"

Bolt whined. "She didn’t come down for breakfast, and I can't find her in her usual spots," he said.

"I see," said Rhino slowly, "it's almost like she's got an independent mind and follows her own agenda." He sat back in his open hamster ball and rubbed his chin in thought. "I don't know a lot about cats and their ways," he said thoughtfully. "Well, other than that they like to eat hamsters." He made finger gun motions toward Bolt and winked. "If I can say one thing that I know decisively about our lady, it's that she's not attempted to eat me since we met. I consider that one of the girl's more endearing features."

"Rhino," said Bolt with a long-suffering sigh, "I'm serious."

"So am _I_ ," said the hamster tartly. "But I get your meaning. I wouldn't worry too much about it, big guy - she's probably working on a hairball. That's one of the few things that I _do_ know about cats." He winked again. "I'd just watch your step the next day or two until Penny or her mom find it."

"Ick," said Bolt, reflexively lifting his paw and giving it a shake. He grinned. "You're probably right. I'm sure she'll show up again once she gets it out of her system."

* * *

Despite the hamster's assurances, Bolt scanned each room for the cat as he moved about in the house during the day. When he finally found her, he was a little surprised to find her nonchalantly lying on the dining room table with her paws resting on an open magazine. The dog and hamster had argued at times over whether the cat could read, or if flipping through the pages was just one of her affectations. The hamster surmised that the smooth paper probably felt nice to her abused paws.

"Oh, there you are," he barked eagerly. "I've been looking all over for you."

"And let me guess," said the cat dryly without looking up, "am I in the last place you looked?"

"I..." the dog paused with one paw raised. "No," he said. "The last place I looked was the main floor bathroom and you weren't in there."

Mittens almost looked like she was going to grin at that point, but the nascent smile melted into a sigh before it could form. The cat licked the pad of her right forefoot and pressed it to the magazine page, flipping it with enough force that she almost tore it.

"Was there something you wanted to say to me, Bolt?" she asked cooly.

At first, Bolt was taken slightly aback by the feline's chilly response, but then he remembered the hamster's comments over breakfast and he realized that she probably wasn't feeling herself at the moment. He gave his tail a tentative wag. "I just hope you're feeling better from - you know - _gak! Gak! Gak!_ "

Mittens looked up from the periodical and fixed the pooch with a look that made him wonder if he had sprouted a second head.

"You know - your hairball," he said quickly. "I mean, there's no shame in vomiting - unless you leave it in a doorway or something. I used to do it all the time." He scrunched his brow as he thought back, "well, I guess technically that would have been considered regurgitating. When I was a pup I used to get so excited about breakfast sometimes that I'd eat it way too fast and then it would just blarg right back up again." He chuckled and gave his right forepaw a quick wave. "That wasn't too bad if it was an especially tasty breakfast because then you got to enjoy eating it again, but sometimes, you know, you were eating it fast just to get it done with. Anyway, my mom - I _think_ it was my mom because I was pretty young at the time - said _Bolt, you need to pause between bites and think about chewing before you swallow it..._ "

"Bolt," said the cat, then when he continued she repeated it a bit louder. " **Bolt**!"

"Hrm?" The dog stopped his story mid-word and cocked his head with an inquisitive whimper.

"Not that I'm findin' your story anything short of a remarkably regrettable tale of self-discovery, but I ain't working on a hairball today. I just needed some time to myself to think. Besides, I leave all my hairballs under Penny's bed."

"Oh, right," said the pooch, thumping his tail again. "I understand wanting to be alone to think. Whenever I'm by myself, thoughts begin coming to me until I go find you, or Penny or Rhino to drown them out... wait! You said hairballs. As in plural. How many of them have you left under Penny's bed?"

Mittens rolled her eyes. "I don't count 'em," she said with a tinge of a sarcastic yowl. "I leave 'em there so nobody has to look at them. It's not like the girl ever cleans under her bed." She rolled onto her side, resting her left elbow on the magazine so that she could face the dog more directly. "Anyway, I thought maybe you came in here to talk about what you said to me yesterday."

"Oh, right, I _did_ ," said Bolt. His ears drooped slightly, and he cleared his throat. "Mittens, I'm sorry about yesterday. I know I have been browbeating you over the trip, but this is special to me and I _really_ want to share it with my friends." The pooch stepped forward again and straightened his shoulders. "All I am asking is for you to reconsider, and I promise that whatever answer you give me..."

"Sure, I'll come," said Mittens with all the unbridled enthusiasm one might reserve for announcing that finances were tight, and they were going to have to sell Grandma to afford winter tires for the Volkswagen. "Kinda hoped you wanted to talk about something else," she meowed softly.

"Please," said Bolt, waving his paw for sufferance, "just hear me out. I promise that no matter what you answer, I won't bug you about this again - wait, what did you say?!"

"I said I'll come on your little trip," said the cat. Mittens rolled over onto her belly again and rested her forepaws on the pages. She stared blankly at the open magazine for a moment. "Between the devil and the deep blue sea, obviously I'll choose the cabin."

"Well that's _great_ ," enthused Bolt. His muzzle broke into a big doggy grin, and he wagged his tail with glee. "You're going to love it up there! The wood stove puts out more heat than even _you_ would know how to handle, and if they stoke up the big fireplace then we get to play the 'dodge the sparks' game." The pooch circled a couple of times in aimless excitement while he prattled on. "I'll have to ensure that Penny packs all of our toys and board games in case we get snowed in. You won't regret this, Mittens!" He called out the last bit as he turned to bound out of the room.

"Eh," muttered the cat toward the rump of the departing shepherd. "Life is all about learning to live with regrets. What's one more for the pile?"

* * *

Rhino clapped the top shut on his ball and rolled pensively in the direction of the dining room to fetch some more chow from his Habitrail base. He found Bolt wandering aimlessly about the room when he arrived, humming tunelessly to himself as dogs were wont to do when they were pleased with themselves. The hamster was too deep in thought at first to notice the canine's behaviour. "Do you think I should talk to my veterinarian about Tri-Lithium Hydroxyflouroquine?" he said absently as he popped the lid on his ball and leaned out to fetch some claws full of food. "According to the ad, it lets you run through sun-dappled fields to a background of swelling music ... hey, what's got you so chipper all of a sudden?"

"Oh nothing," replied the white shepherd evasively. His tail wagged furiously, "except that Mittens said 'yes'."

"Congratulations," said Rhino firmly. "That's great! I knew you two were a good match! Have you set a date?"

The dog blushed. "I mean she said 'yes' about coming to the cabin with us," he interjected hastily. "She mentioned something about the deep blue sea, so I might have to remind her that it's up in the mountains, but this is _great_! I want to have the whole family up there for this trip."

"That _is_ good news," said the hamster. He stuffed both mittfuls of chow into his maw and pushed it into his cheeks before reaching for more. "I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised because she sounded pretty adamant about staying home yesterday. That's a pretty sharp u-turn between then and this afternoon. What did you say to sway her?"

Bolt shrugged. "I dunno," he admitted. "I guess I just made a compelling argument. Anyway, the how and why of it isn't important, I'm just happy that she's come around."

"Indeed," said the hamster. He stored a second helping of chow and then clapped down the lid on his ball again. "Anyway, I must be rolling. I need to get back in there for the third act if I hope to find out who's the real father."

* * *

The cat was conspicuously absent again that evening when the pets gathered in the den for their usual after-dinner games. Bolt whined when he saw that she was not there.

"She didn't come down here yesterday, and now she's not here tonight," he said with a mix of concern and frustration. "She's going to miss our usual Parchecksi game!"

"Par _what_ i?" Rhino blinked.

"It's a mix between checkers and Parcheesi," said Bolt. "Mittens has been teaching me the rules as we go. The last time we played she said that I came super close to not losing badly, so I was looking forward to seeing what progress I made today." The pooch grinned and wagged his tail.

"Methinks the lady is making up the rules as she goes," said the hamster.

The shepherd smirked and rolled his eyes. "Duh," he said. "The real game is pretending that I don't know that, and watching her act like she doesn’t' know that I'm just feigning obliviousness. The game is just a prop for our little dance."

"I'd like to say that I get it, but I don't," said Rhino. He tapped the open edge of his hamster shell and sighed. "Sometimes I'm glad that I live in a bubble and don't have to learn all these complicated rules of interaction." He furiously rubbed his jowls with his foreclaws. "I can roll around through my day in ignorant bliss, worrying only about how much food I can stuff into my cheeks and still form coherent sentences."

Bolt laughed and patted the floor next to the Parcheesi board. "It looks like I have room for a second if you wanted to start learning some of those rules," he said.

"Thanks," said the hamster with a dismissive wave. He reached up and closed the lid on his ball. "I'm going to pass, though. I need to get in a bit of rolling before bedtime. I went a little heavy on the chow during this afternoon's soaps." He chuckled at the dog's expression of mixed dubiousness and incredulity. "I know, right? Me seeking actual exercise. This day is just _full_ of surprises, isn't it?"

Rhino felt a tinge of guilt over misleading the dog as he rolled himself out of the room. He had a definite goal in mind that was not related to (ick!) exercise. The little hamster was less inclined than the good-natured pooch to just accept the cat's sudden reversal at face value. Although he had not known Mittens for an exceptionally long time, his most-used lexicon of words to describe the feline included many variants of the word 'stubborn'.

The rodent had not missed the dog's oblique reference to 'the deep blue sea', and he was familiar with, " Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea." Aside from being the title of a catchy song by ex-Beatle George Harrison, it was also an expression in the same vein as _between a rock and a hard place_. This suggested to him that the cat was agreeing to the trip under duress. Bolt was not the type who would threaten her, but if the cat was tossing out phrases like that, then it was clear to him that the feline considered the trip to be the lesser of two evils.

"It would," Rhino thought, "also explain her standoffish behaviour today."

Unlike Bolt, the hamster had some good ideas about where the cat might be hanging out. When one lived with an apex predator whose natural diet usually included plump rodents, one made a point of paying attention to their movements and habits. He found her almost immediately, curled up in the corner of the window sill in Penny's bedroom.

"Knock, knock," he said as he rolled across the threshold. Although the hamster was not overtly afraid of the cat, he didn't want to risk startling her either.

"Oh, hey Rhino," said Mittens. She rolled over to face into the room, draping the ends of both sets of paws off the edge of the sill. "What brings you in here at this hour? Don't tell me, lemme guess. The TV's broken and... no. Wait. Penny gave Wags another Kong filled with peanut butter!"

"No." Rhino suppressed a shudder when the cat resurrected the long-buried memory of the Kong. "And oh dear god, no!" he said, rolling to a stop in the middle of the throw rug. "You and I don't get a lot of uninterrupted time to shoot the breeze. Chew the fat, as it were - _figuratively, not literally!_ " he added quickly. "This just seemed like an opportune time for some quality Felis a Mesocricetus intercour... er, talk."

The feline sighed and grimaced. "Did Bolt send you?"

"Of course not," said the hamster. He paused and raised an eyebrow. "Should he have?"

Mittens shrugged but didn't otherwise respond.

"Okay, I'd put on my rumpled Columbo coat if I had one," said Rhino. The little rodent began to pace back and forth on the throw-rug, expertly wheeling his ball in a sharp u-turn at each end rather than trying to brake and reverse. "You were _hoping_ that he'd sent me, but you were ready to be mad if he did." He peered up at the feline on the sill. "Twitch your tail once for yes, and twice for no ... uh, it's just twitching non-stop. No problem, I can work with this."

The little hamster rubbed his chin in his usual manner as he thought. "Yesterday, you were adamant that you did not want to go to the cabin, and today you've decided that you will go, but you're avoiding Bolt." He cast a sidelong glance toward the little tuxedo cat, and from her shift in posture, he could tell that he was getting close. "Clearly, he said or did something yesterday that left you feeling like you had no choice but to go."

"Eh, not exactly that, but close enough," said Mittens. She spread the toes on her right forefoot and examined it critically. "I'm a bit mad, and a bit sad, but I'm a big girl. I'll get over it."

"No, no, no, no," said Rhino emphatically. "Putting a lid on these things and letting them ferment is never a good thing!" The hamster was standing in his ball, waving his little arms around frantically over his head while he spoke. "You let a little thing slide here, and swallow some anger there and the next thing you know half the household has their heads on pikes outside with three-legged ravens picking at their eyeballs. I watched a historical docudrama about it on _Showtime_. You gotta let it out, sister. What's got your tail in a knot?"

The cat chuckled dryly at her melodramatic little friend. "Nobody's heads are gonna end up on spears," she said. "Bolt just said something kinda thoughtless last night and it got me feeling a little vulnerable. As I said, I'll get over it."

"Don't be coy with me, miss," said the rodent. He stood again and leaned against the front of his ball with his little palms pressed to the plastic. "I can take it. Gimme a hint."

Mittens grinned. "You're not exactly an unbiased party in a he-said, she-said dispute here, Rhino."

"Try me," countered the hamster.

"Okay," said the cat. She sat up. "But first, a pop quiz. Who's the bravest dog alive?"

"Bolt!" replied the rodent without hesitation, pumping a tiny fist in the air for emphasis.

"Who's the most loyal dog alive?" she asked.

"Bolt!"

"Who's the smartest dog alive?" demanded the feline.

"Bolt!"

"Who's the most honest dog alive?" she continued.

"Bolt!"

"Who told his cat friend that she deserved to be left on the curb by her previous family?"

"Bolt! ... wait, what?" Rhino stood, frozen in place for a moment with his mouth hanging agape before he spoke again. "That can't be right," he said faintly. "That's not the kind of thing that Bolt would say to a friend."

"Yeah, here we go," muttered the cat. She rolled over without another word to face out the window.

"No, wait, I didn't mean it that way," called the hamster. "I believe you. But even though he said that, Bolt would never actually _mean_ it. He would never leave a friend behind, nor would Penny or her mom for that matter. I'd like to think that I've become a good judge of people over my short life, and these are all good people."

"You would think that," said Mittens, rolling back over to face the hamster again. "And I thought that of my last family too, but here I am."

"I think I get it now," said the rodent. He was pacing again, walking upright with his little claws clasped behind his back. "Bolt said something stupid and thoughtless in the heat of the moment, and you're afraid he might be serious." He glanced up at the cat for confirmation, and she responded with a curt nod. "All right, then," said the hamster with a determined nod in return. He stopped pacing and stood in the centre of the throw rug with his claws on his hips. "I know the big guy well enough to _know_ that he didn't mean what he said. I think the clear solution here is to go and ask him to apologize." He clasped his palms under his belly and cinched it up, preparing to leave.

"Rhino," said Mittens quickly. "Wait."

The hamster, who had already been rolling purposefully for the door, paused and turned toward the cat again with a quizzical cock of his head.

The little tuxedo cat was sitting upright on the window sill now, with her tail curled tightly around her haunches. She was clutching its tip between her forepaws, massaging it as if she were hoping to milk the right words out of it. "Here's the thing," she said slowly. "In my mind, I know what you're sayin' is true. But my crippling anxiety says, 'what if there is a grain of truth to it?'" She waved a paw to silence the hamster who looked like he was working on a retort. "I'm just sayin'," she pressed on, "that the words came out with disturbing ease. And even now, he doesn't seem to realize that there was anything wrong with what he said."

Mittens gave a half meow-sigh and let go of her tail. Once freed, it took on a life of its own, thrashing out a visual rhythm to her angst. "I know that Bolt and Penny and her mom and," she paused, and the rodent caught the mischievous twinkle in her eye, "even _you_ are all good people. I know that none of you would dump me on the curb like my last family ... but ..." The little cat made a circular gesticulation with her right paw. "The words are out there now, right? The idea has taken seed and refuelled all the old fears I thought I'd left behind in a manky Manhattan dumpster. Now I've got these churning thoughts that won't let me be. What if they all feel this way deep down? What happens if I stop bein' fun? Start bein' too contrary? Stop bein' agreeable?"

"So," said Rhino, interjecting sharply before the cat could continue voicing her dark thoughts, "you agreed to come to the cabin because you didn't think had had a real choice?"

Mittens worked her mouth like she was going to say something more, but it finally twisted itself into a wan, sheepish grin and she hung her head. "Yeah," she said softly. "Somethin' like that." She gave a slight shrug of her feline shoulders again. "I ain't so much mad that he said it, but that he doesn't seem to get that it was a rotten thing to say."

The hamster nodded. "He's a good fellow, but he can be a bit..." the hamster paused as if working up the fortitude to speak ill of his idol. "... _oblivious_ at times. I'm going to talk to him," Rhino cinched up his belly again. "I trust the big guy, and I know he'll do the right thing." Before the cat could object, he pressed quickly on. "Bolt can be a bit obsessive when he puts his doggy mind on something. This trip is his latest bone to gnaw. Our canine friend is so focused on the cabin that he's got blinders on to everything else. I'm not going to tell him what to do, just lift his blinders." He raised his right paw, pointing to the ceiling as he rolled toward the door. "Onward, and upward. You leave this to me and keep on not eating hamsters."

"Wait," said Mittens, blinking, "I didn't even know that was an option."

" _It's not an option_ ," said the rodent darky. He had turned to face the cat now, backing up his ball toward the door. "Why are we even talking about eating hamsters?"

The cat shook her head in confusion. "It was you who..."

" _I'm on to you now, sister,_ " said the fat little hamster. He pointed to his eyes with a pair of claws and then pointed them at the cat as he backed his ball slowly out the open door. "I've watched every rerun of _Kung Fu_ , and I've learned a few things from _Kwai Chang Caine_. You'll find I'm one tough hamster to chow down on." With those parting words, the rodent rolled out of sight around the corner. A moment later his ball bobbled back into sight, just far enough for him to peek into the room. "Speaking of which, _Enter the Dragon_ is playing on _Showtime_ later tonight. You probably don’t want to miss that!"

"I won't," said Mittens with a genial laugh.

* * *

Bolt was still alone in the den when Rhino returned. The white shepherd had set up pieces on the Parcheesi board, which he would alternately knock over with a paw, then set upright again with a sigh. He looked up when the hamster entered the room.

"You're back!" he barked, with a grin and a wag of his tail. He winked. "It must have been a pretty energetic walk for you to be done this quickly."

"Exercise..." began the hamster with a confused blink before realization set in. "Oh yeah," he said. "I got winded by the first corner, but I'm not one to let a little discomfort get in the way of good health." He wheeled his ball up to the other side of the game from the dog and flipped back the top of his shell. He spread his foreclaws wide at the board. "What's say you set up this baby and teach me how the game works."

"Sure thing!" Bolt swept the board clean with his paw and trotted over to fetch the checkers pieces.

Rhino watched as the canine began carefully setting up the pieces in a way that probably only made sense to the other two pets. When he saw the dog pause and frown slightly while holding the next piece in his face-up paw and studying the board, he spoke up again. "It's funny how Mittens came around so quickly on the cabin trip," he said casually. "It's not like the lady to change her mind once she's dug in as deeply as she had. She's almost as stubborn as some dogs I know..."

Bolt chuckled. "What can I say?" he replied. "I guess I just have a way with the ladies."

"I'll say," said the hamster eagerly. He watched patiently as the dog placed, and then rejected and moved a couple more of the checker pieces. "Teach me your ways, oh master of cats," he continued. "What magic words did you use to crack through her stubborn feline shell?"

The shepherd shrugged. "I dunno," he said. He paused and stared at the next checker piece pensively. "I was actually surprised that she changed her mind this morning because she was digging in pretty hard last night until she walked out in the middle of the conversation."

"Huh. Weird." The hamster stroked his chin, but his eyes never strayed from the dog's face. "She just walked out and then came back this morning a changed cat, eh? Are you sure it wasn't something you said that changed her mind?"

"Well, I called her a sourpuss," said Bolt slowly. The hamster could almost see the gears turning in the pooch's head while he reconstructed the previous day's conversation.

"We've both called her worse," he prompted, "so you called her a sourpuss and she stormed out?"

The canine's face was beginning to resolve itself into a mask of horror and realization. "No," he said. "I was getting frustrated, and I ... Rhino, I'm such an _idiot_."

"Really," said the hamster innocently. "Surely you didn't do something crass, like make a joke about the single most defining and traumatizing event in her life?"

Bolt hung his head and whimpered. "You went and talked to her, didn’t you?" he asked in a meek but accusatory tone.

"I'm a friendly guy," said Rhino in an airy, indifferent tone. "I talk to lots of folks. Some of them just happen to be cats who are very disappointed with one of their friends."

"Oh." The dog's frown deepened. "I could handle her being mad, but disappointed is worse." The shepherd squared his shoulders. "Well, it's time for me to put on my 'big boy' collar and go deal with this," he said. "If I wait, it's just going to fester, and I don't want those kinds of words hanging out there between me and my friend."

"She's in Penny's window..." said the hamster.

* * *

Bolt found the cat exactly where Rhino had said she would be. The winter sun had abandoned the sky with the celerity with which it was wont to do at that time of year, but he could see Mittens silhouetted against the wan twilight that was still seeping in through the pane.

She spoke before he could muster the right opening words. "Did the meddling rat send you?"

"Hamster," he corrected automatically and then silently cursed himself for letting her take control of the conversation before he was ready. "No," he said. "Yes ... no. Well, it's complicated." Bolt sighed. "What I mean is, he shouldn't have _had_ to send me."

He saw the dim outline of the cat shrug against the backdrop of faint blue light. "I'm just teasin'," she said. "Look, it's okay. I know ya didn't mean what you..."

"It's _not_ okay," barked the shepherd more forcefully than he intended. He saw the cat jump at his outburst, and he quickly pressed on while he had the verbal advantage. "It's not okay for me to joke about something that so deeply hurt one of my closest friends. It was callous and... _wrong_ , and not the kind of thing that is said by the dog I am trying to be."

The cat shifted her position and he could see her eyes glowing in the dark.

"You've got her attention, boy," he thought grimly. "Now don't mess it up." He continued aloud, "You know that I didn't mean what I said. I would walk through fire for the ones I love. I did it literally for Penny, and I would do the same for you. I will never abandon you, and if anyone here _ever_ tried to leave you on the curb, they'd have to come through _me_."

The pooch shook his head sadly. "I'm still learning how to chew things properly," he said. "Just like I need to chew my food when it comes in, I need to chew my words before they go out and make sure they taste right." He paused. "I'm talking nonsense, aren't I?"

"No, go on," said Mittens, waggling a paw at him encouragingly. "I'm curious to hear where you're goin' with this."

Bolt whimpered. "I bet. Look, I'm not good at this. Words and thinking aren't my strong suit. I'm more of a 'bite the bad guy and save the day' kind of dog. Anyway," he continued, "what I'm saying is that you are mad and ... disappointed in me right now, and that's your right. I just want you to know that I'm sorry for what I said and that you're not obliged to forgive and forget. In fact," he squared his shoulders again. "I want ... I _need_ you to remember this, and to call me out the next time I say something hurtful and dumb. Because you know that I will."

"You're nothin' if not reliable," agreed the cat.

"Anyway ..." The dog sighed. "I'll be down in the den with the game set up. We've both missed you down there these last couple of evenings. You take however long you need, and when you feel like you're ready to be in the same room with me, I'll be there. I'll always be there for you." He waited for a response, but as the silence dragged on for several long seconds, the dog assumed that he was dismissed, and he stood to leave. The cat called out as he was turning.

"Bolt," she said, "thanks."

* * *

The shepherd could have served as a visual definition for the word _hangdog_ as he slinked his way back to the den, muttering low curses at himself with every step and second-guessing how he could have handled the situation better. He arrived to find Rhino out of his exercise ball, walking around on the Parcheesi board, examining the seemingly random placement of the pieces. The hamster glanced up as the dog entered the room.

"Oh, hey guys," he said with a cheery wave.

"Guys...?" began Bolt, before glancing over his shoulder and seeing the cat practically on his haunches. "Mittens?" He yelped, then he broke into a big grin and wagged his tail furiously. "Mittens!"

"What?" said the cat innocently, backing away a step from the enthusing dog. "You said you had the board set up."

"The board," said the dog as he loped across the room to it. "I think I have it set up right, assuming Rhino didn't move any of the pieces while I was gone."

"As if you'd know if I had," said the hamster, crawling back into his plastic shell as he spoke. "No offence."

Mittens ambled over to the board as well, examined it closely for a moment, and then casually pushed one of the stacks of pieces over a space with her paw. "Pretty good," she said. "I think you're starting to get the hang of how this game works."

"Thanks," said Bolt with a tongue-lolling grin. "I have a good teacher." He lowered his gaze. "And speaking of learning things, I'll stop making a list of things to pack for you." The dog looked up again and met the cat's gaze. "I know you don't want to come with us, and that's okay. It really is."

Mittens shrugged. "I dunno." She yawned and stretched in the luxuriant manner reserved for cats. "To tell you the truth, after I resigned myself to the idea that I had to come on the trip, I started warmin' to the idea." She held up a cautionary paw. "I'm still wafflin', but don't throw away that list just yet."

The white shepherd whined again. "You're not just teasing me to get my hopes up, are you?"

The cat grinned wickedly. "You know, sweetie," she purred, "if I truly set my mind to teasin', I could get more than just your _hopes_ up..."

"I need an adult," said Rhino in a tiny voice.

"I was talking about his hackles, you nasty little hamster," said the cat, fixing the rodent with a withering look.

"Now, on the other hand ..." began Bolt, raising a paw in thought.


End file.
